Go back in time 1966, '67. When you first got on campus what disturbed
you so much about what you found there?

TONY GITTENS:

The way they treated students.

JUDY RICHARDSON:

Incorporate my question. What disturbed me so much was--

TONY GITTENS:

OK. Good. When I fir--when I got to Howard, ah, back in 1965, um, what
disturbed me so much was the way they treated students, the way the
Howard administration tended to treat students like children. As though,
we couldn't take care of ourselves and, and their job was to, ah, to
make us, ah, more cultured, ah, Black people, that they felt that we
were these negroes from the field and that we were to be treated like
kids. And I found that absolutely insulting. I found the whole idea of
this, ah, the largest, most prestigious Black institution in the
country, ah, wanting to view itself as the "Black Harvard" as opposed to
setting out its own identity. And in general I just found their whole
attitude condescending towards students and it was insulting and just
something that, ah, you know I thought shouldn't be stood for.